Jo Clifton: Sun Chase promises more affordable housing

The groundbreaking and highly influential Austin Music Census identified affordable housing as a key issue to turn around the dangerous trend of musicians who can no longer afford to live in Austin.

City Council approved planned unit development (PUD) zoning on second reading for the Sun Chase development in southeast Travis County, also known as the Southeast Travis County Municipal Utility District, on Thursday, with a new provision for 3 percent of single-family lots to be set aside for affordable housing.

The developer’s attorney, Richard Suttle, told Council that his client would donate an estimated 75 lots to be “owned, free and clear, by the city, and then from there, we would reach an agreement on how the homes get built. … We completely changed the approach that was in the MUD.”

The previous agreement, he explained, provided for 10 percent of homes in the development to be priced for those making 80 percent of the median family income (MFI) on first-time sale only.

But the new agreement, Suttle said, is a different approach. The 2012 MUD agreement will no longer apply, and the developer will make a donation of 3 percent of developed single-family lots to the Austin Housing Finance Corporation.